It's been argued that some musicians are such big stars with such dedicated followings that they could probably release a song full of silence and it would go to No. 1 on iTunes. Well, this jab at the hive mind surrounding pop music came true with Taylor Swift.
Last night (Oct. 21), a glitch on iTunes Canada accidentally released eight seconds of silence under the name "Track 3" from Swift's new album 1989, and the white noise promptly went to the top of the charts as fans tried to dissect any sort of meaning from the blank track.
According to CBC News, an error in iTunes Canada's system made the track available for download for $1.29, and thousands of Swifties promptly purchased the track, sending it straight to No. 1 on the chart. However, after listening to the song it was clear that the mysterious "Track 3" was nothing but white noise. But, that didn't seem to stop the song from beating out other actual Swift songs, including "Welcome to New York," "Shake It Off" and "Out Of the Woods," which respectively sit at Nos. 2, 3 and 7.
CBC News and The Independent guess much of the buzz surrounding "Track 3" was confusion for the other recently released Swift single, "Welcome to New York" which was officially released yesterday as well.
As for the actual third song on 1989, Swift has yet to unveil an official title or actually drop anything beyond some short silence. However, she has teased the song on Instagram with a batch of lyrics. The song includes the line: "I say 'I heard that you've been out and about with some other girl.'"
Taylor Swift's new album 1989 will be released on Oct. 27.
